‘Alarming’ Physician Shortages Lie Ahead, according to a HealthLeaders headline that’s bound to raise your blood pressure. Chances are you’ve seen even scarier articles about the looming nursing shortage, with predictions of a shortage of hundreds of thousands of nurses in the coming decades.

As I’ve documented repeatedly, the nursing shortage is a myth. Nursing schools have boosted their enrollment and students have flocked to borrow money for tuition with the expectation of secure job prospects. And yet many new nurses can’t find jobs. Look closely and you’ll find that many of those that talk about a nursing shortage are the nursing schools that train nurses and not those who employ nurses – such as hospitals. In this case, proponents of the nursing shortage myth have harmed would-be nurses by misleading them about the job market.

So yes, let’s have a rational discourse about workforce needs and consider training more people when appropriate. But let’s not get too worked up by self-interested attempts to boost the medical and nursing school industries.